University Southern California Trojans
USC
9-7, 3-3MPSF
Pepperdine
11-4, 4-2MPSF
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
No. 13 USC Men's Volleyball Upsets No. 4 Pepperdine
March 02, 2019 | Men's Volleyball, Features
Jack Wyett had a match-high 21 kills, Ryan Moss added 16 kills and 12 digs, Gianluca Grasso had 15 kills and 9 digs, Kyle Gear had 6 blocks and Matt Douglas had a match-best 17 digs to help the No. 13-ranked USC men's volleyball team to a 25-19, 25-27, 28-26, 25-20 upset win over No. 4 Pepperdine in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contest on Saturday (March 2) in USC's Galen Center.
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USC improved to 9-7 overall and evened its MPSF mark at 3-3. It was the Trojans' second consecutive upset over the Waves, after unranked USC defeated No. 5 Pepperdine, 3-1, in last year's MPSF Tournament quarterfinals in Malibu. The last time Troy beat the Waves twice in a row was in 2012.Â
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Pepperdine fell to 11-4 overall and 4-2 in the MPSF.
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USC hit .317 in the match to Pepperdine's .256 and the Trojans had more digs, 52 to 42.
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Michael Wexler led the Waves with 15 kills, David Wieczorek added 14 kills, 7 digs and 3 aces, Ben Weinberg came off the bench to get 9 kills (hitting .471) and 7 digs, Noah Dyer had 15 digs and Kevin Vaz had 4 blocks.
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USC went on a 3-point run to open up a 10-6 lead in the first set and extended it to 13-8, and the Waves couldn't challenge the rest of the way as the Trojans posted 3.0 blocks in the set. After USC used a 5-0 run to build an 11-5 lead in the second set and then was up 18-13, the Waves slowly crept back to tie it at 22-22 before winning the set on a Wieczorek kill followed by a USC hitting error. The third set stayed tight throughout until USC scored the final 3 points on a pair of Pepperdine hitting errors and a finishing kill by Wyett. At 16-16 in the fourth set, USC scored back-to-back points to move ahead 18-16 and then extended the lead to 22-17, all the cushion the Trojans needed to capture the match while hitting .519 in the set.
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USC now hosts the 4-team Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge, welcoming UCLA, Penn State and Ohio State to the Galen Center on Friday and Saturday (March 8 and 9). On Friday, UCLA will play Ohio State at 5 p.m. PT and USC will meet Penn State at 8 p.m. PT. The matchups will flop on Saturday, with UCLA battling Penn State at 5 p.m. PT and then USC facing Ohio State at 8 p.m. PT.
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